Archive for November 2010

The blog Cafe Pyala recently published an incredible expose of the tangled web of deceit an Internet propaganda ring being run by a group of supposed journalists (original in full below the jump). Far from the conspiracy theories that are relentlessly promoted on several of the blogs that have been exposed, the work of the […]

Ansar Abbasi’s column of 26 November is a curious piece of work. He begins by reporting some statements of Law Minister Babar Awan about repeal of the blasphemy law. According to Ansar Abbasi, the esteemed minister has said that he opposed repeal of the law and that no one should think of repealing it while […]

Mr Nadir Hassan brings a bit of levity to the discussion of media with his article for today’s Express Tribune, “10 things I hate about TV news“. Some of his observations made me laugh out loud, but at the end of reading I also thought, ‘it’s funny because it’s true!’ 1. The dunce […]

Talat Hussain found himself the subject of outrage recently after he wrote a scathing article attacking Angelina Jolie for failing to live up to Talat the conservative Islamist’s ideal of the proper role of women. While some were upset with his point of view, most were upset with his blatant hypocrisy, seeing this as another […]

Express Tribune on 23 November featured a story, ‘US-based group working to establish caliphate‘ that included a photo of Interior Minister Rehman Malik with the caption, “Pakistani activist of ‘Jamaat-e-Islami Sa’ee’ in FIA custody”. There is no evidence that Minister Rehman Malik is an activist of Jamaat-e-Islami Sa’ee. Actually, this seems to be an obvious […]

The Nation today includes an editorial, “Say firm NO to drones” that repeats incorrect data on the number of deaths of innocents due to drones attacks. Unfortunately, this is not the first time that such incorrect data has been published by The Nation which raises the question of whether the newspaper is intentionally misleading the […]

The words of prominent TV anchors may be considered all in good fun or perhaps merely words and therefore not of any consequence. “If you do not like a programme, do not watch it” say the defenders of this ‘anything goes’ media ideology. But words have consequences, and the statements of prominent TV anchors can […]

By now you have probably heard the story of Asia Bibi who was handed down the death sentence in Nankana district for violation of blasphemy laws. This has created quite a debate in parts of the media – but not the debate you might expect. Actually, most of the discussion has been about whether or […]

Pervez Hoodbhoy is not a very good conspiracy theorist. He is, however, a very good scientist. He is professor of physics at Quaid-i-Azam University, and as a scientist, he is getting quite frustrated with people trying to use pseudo-science to make up crazy conspiracy theories that confuse and scare people for no good reason. Writing […]

Are some elements in the intelligence agencies using media as puppets? This is a conclusion that is being reached by some analysts based on recent news articles published by The News (Jang Group). Earlier this week, investigative editor for The News Ansar Abbasi wrote the article titled ‘Ex-MI chief, commanders Quetta, Pindi involved’ which claims […]